Worldcon: The numbers

So, post Worldcon the internet has been chattering about the number of attendees (apparently lower than usual) and the average age of attendees (high). As part of the conversation, several people keep saying that the reason Worldcon has more trouble attracting attendees than, say, DragonCon and ComicCon is because DragonCon, ComicCon and other cons stay in the same city so they are able to grow, while Worldcon keeps jumping around. Also it's expensive.

Ahem.

Allow me to introduce you to an organization called the Society for Human Resource Management, which I will now call SHRM.

Like Worldcon, SHRM runs an annual convention. Like Worldcon, SHRM is an event attended by a number of people with different motivations: industry pros, academics, job hunters, computer development teams, health care executives, people needing certifications in whatever, attorneys, students, and so on. For instance, most doctoral programs in human resource management – yes, this is a thing – require their students to attend, as do some master's level programs, and papers presented at SHRM count as academic publications. Like Worldcon, it has a large exhibitors room and many famous people running around. (Not "famous" just in HR terms – the upcoming SHRM is bringing in Hillary Rodham Clinton, astronaut Mike Kelly, and so on.) Like Worldcon, it "competes" with several other HR events, including regional and state SHRM conferences which typically happen at least once or twice a year. Like Worldcon it hosts an awards ceremony, and like Worldcon it offers things you can't get anywhere else (not so much Hillary Clinton, but certification classes and specialized seminars.)

Like Worldcon, it also visits a new city every year. 2013 was in Chicago. 2014 will be in Orlando.

Unlike Worldcon, it is growing, if slowly. When I attended about ten years ago, it attracted about 10,000 people; this year, about 13,000 people showed up and apparently they are expecting about 14,000 for Orlando.

This, despite the fact that SHRM is INCREDIBLY expensive. Just entering the exhibit hall for one day will set you back a solid $110. (On the bright side you can sometimes spot someone passing out little trays of food and, around 4 pm, small glasses of wine.) A full registration is a solid $1200 IF you are a member of SHRM and IF you register early, and this is all before you have paid for hotels, food, parking or airfare, seminars, certification classes, workshops and more, none of which are included. And this for a con where you have far less chance of even seeing, much less meeting, Hillary Clinton than you have, say, of seeing and meeting George RR Martin at Worldcon.

Now, yes, I can only take this so far, since the two events also have several significant differences. Just to start with, no one is going to SHRM for fun, despite the lavish dinners and copious alcohol in the evening. Most attendees are fairly to very well off to begin with, and can write it off as some sort of business expense and/or get their employers to cover the costs. SHRM also has a LOT more money – Google says the organization had $180 million in assets in 2010, which sounds about right, and SHRM attracts major corporate sponsorships – Microsoft, AETNA, Disney, that sort of thing. And in some cases, attendees have to be there to get whatever goal – academic publication, a job offer, certification – which provides an additional incentive.

But SHRM is hardly the only conference/convention that is extremely expensive and moves from major city to city and yet has no problem attracting new and younger attendees and people of color. Conventions do this all the time. Worldcon and World Fantasy are unusual among genre cons, granted. But assuming we agree that there is a problem with Worldcon attendance numbers (and I should note not everyone does agree that a) the numbers are dropping or b) that this is a problem) we need to look at the actual reasons. Moving from city to city and being expensive may not be helping, but they are at best inadequate explanations.